Former DART official, husband dead in apparent murder-suicide

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, March 10, 2008

Associated Press Writer

A former public transit official accused of wrongdoing and her husband were found dead in what police said Tuesday was an apparent murder-suicide.

Police said the bodies of Lynn Flint Shaw, the former chairwoman of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board, and political analyst and blogger Rufus Shaw Jr. were discovered inside their home Monday night.

Flint Shaw, 53, resigned her DART board seat in January after she was accused of forging stationery from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office to avoid paying a $7,500 debt.

Her 56-year-old husband wrote a regular political column on Dallasblog.com, where he recently blamed his wife's legal troubles on "the politics of destruction" and said he had "earned the hatred of a great many black political players" through his writing.

Lt. Craig Miller said relatives and friends became concerned about possible self-inflicted harm after Rufus Shaw called a family member and a friend around 6 p.m. Monday.

After a series of phone calls, a family member showed up at the Shaws' house. When no one answered the door, the family member called 911 about 9:45 p.m. The Shaws were found dead in their bedroom with handgun nearby, Miller said. They were the only ones in the home.

The Shaws' college-age son in Virginia received a call from his dad, Miller said. State Sen. Royce West of Dallas said Rufus Shaw left a message on his cell phone voice mail about 6 p.m.

"He basically said that by the time that I got the message and returned the call, he'd be dead, they'd be dead," West said. "He left some instructions, asking me to assist his son and take care of the affairs of the family, and that his enemies would make sure he was dead by the end of the day."

West said Shaw didn't elaborate on what he meant by his "enemies."

"Rufus Shaw has always been a very strong guy, and all of us who have lived in this community a long time know Rufus Shaw was a strong person," West said. "But I detected something in his voice I never heard before."

Miller said police were investigating the possibility of a suicide pact. There was no suicide note, he said.

"Obviously one person in this situation did the shooting but to say whether or not both people were cognizant of what was about to take place … we can't determine that right now," Miller said.

Flint Shaw had been accused of forging the signature of Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in an elaborate effort to avoid repaying the debt to a friend.

According to an affidavit, the friend received a torn, empty envelope she believed was supposed to have a check. Alarmed, the friend contacted Shaw to get her to stop payment on the check, but Shaw said the check had already been cashed by someone using the friend's identification.

Shaw told the friend she would contact the DA's office to report a stolen check and later produced a document that confirmed an investigation and appeared to be signed by Watkins, the affidavit said. When the friend took a copy of that letter to authorities, they determined it was fraudulent.

Flint Shaw had been free on bond on charges of tampering with a governmental record.

"It is premature for our office, the media or the public to speculate on the circumstances surrounding their tragic deaths," Watkins said in a statement.